Resource sharing broadband access system, methods, and devices

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems and devices for sharing communication resources among a plurality of clients ( 200 - 204 ) that are part of a common wireless community ( 1000 ). The communication resources are, for example, Internet access resources ( 101 - 104 ). Another example, might be a video or data delivery communication resource. As an example, clients have separate Internet access accounts. Embodiments of the invention, for example, allow client business units or residential units to share separate Internet access accounts.

PRIORITY CLAIM

Applicant claims priority benefits under 35 U.S.C. §119 on the basis ofPatent Application No. 60/531,475, filed Dec. 19, 2003.

TECHNICAL FIELD

A field of the invention is network communications, including Internetand intranet communications. The invention concerns network accessresource sharing among a plurality of clients within a common wirelesscommunity network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Dial-up service is a common method of Internet access. Dial-up serviceuses a dial-up modem through which a computer makes phone calls to anInternet service provider. The dial-up modem transforms digital datafrom the personal computer into an analog signal for transmissionthrough a phone line, and conversely converts incoming analog signalsinto digital data for the personal computer. Dial-up service is known tobe slow. For example, viewing web pages with multimedia content, such asgraphical images, is often unacceptably slow.

Broadband access addresses this problem by providing higher digital datarates than dial-up service. A “DSL” (Digital Subscriber Line) involvesupgrading the dial-up modem to a higher speed modem, known as a DSLmodem, as well as using an upgraded modem device at the Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) premises, also known as the “central office.” The DSLapproach uses existing copper wire, possibly upgraded along certainsegments to increase its capacity to carry digitized information. Oftenthe DSL access line is a spare telephone line that is already connectedto the client location, such as a business or a residential unit, andthe central office is owned and operated by the local telephone company.The data rates achievable by DSL are dependent on the distance betweenthe client location and the central office, and range roughly between100 kbps-1500 kbps. A DSL connection is commonly called a broadbandaccess line. There are many client locations, e.g., residential units,that are too far away from a central office to have DSL serviceavailable.

Another broadband access scheme most commonly used with residentialclients makes use of the coaxial cable that passes through a residentialunit, for purposes of providing television signals to the home, “CableTV”. A specialized modem, called a cable modem, is attached the coaxialcable inside the residential unit. The cable modem facilitates digitalcommunication between the residential unit and facilities owned by thecable TV operator (often called a “Multiple Services Operator” (MSO)).The MSO is attached to the Internet, and thus becomes an Internetservice provider for the residential unit. The coaxial cable entering aresidential unit is typically shared with other residential units inclose geographic proximity. Peak data rates on the order ofapproximately 2 million bits per second (Mbps) are possible with cablemodems, with current service offerings.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Methods, systems and devices for sharing communication resources among aplurality of clients that are part of a common wireless community. Thecommunication resources are, for example, Internet access resources.Another example, might be a video or data delivery communicationresource. As an example, clients have separate Internet access accounts.Embodiments of the invention, for example, allow client business unitsor residential units to share separate Internet access accounts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a residential broadband access system inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a residence system for use with theresidential broadband access system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention concerns methods, systems and devices for sharingcommunication resources among a plurality of clients that are part of acommon wireless community. The communication resources are, for example,Internet access resources. Another example, might be a video or datadelivery communication resource. As an example, clients have separateInternet access accounts. Embodiments of the invention, for example,allow client business units or residential units to share separateInternet access accounts.

The wireless community network is used to share individual networkaccess resources available at one or more of the clients. In preferredembodiments, the network access is Internet access, and one or moreclients in a common wireless community, e.g. a wireless area networksuch as an IEEE 802.11b network, provides an Internet connection. Amongthe clients in the common wireless community, there are likely to be aplurality of Internet connections. For example, in a particular wirelesscommunity, there may be a number of clients with DSL connections, anumber of clients with Cable connections, and a number of clients withslow dial-up connections. The combined resources are made available fornetwork communications in clients in the wireless community.

In preferred embodiments, clients in the wireless community, for examplethrough software or modems, are configured to act as a local proxy tofacilitate a client's communication with a proxy server instead ofnetwork resource. In some cases, a proxy server may be implemented in aclient device in the wireless community or server device placed in thewireless community for the purpose of implementing a proxy server. Inother cases, a proxy server may be accessed through the network, forexample the Internet. In either case, based upon traffic patterns orother information about usage of the Internet connections in thewireless community, the proxy protocol directs client packets toInternet connection resources available in the wireless network suchthat some or all of the Internet connection resources are shared amongclients in the wireless community. The proxy server appends informationnecessary for packet routing to and from clients, and establishes acommunication session with a network resource, e.g. a server on theInternet, on behalf of clients in the wireless community.

Embodiments of the invention provide, for example, a shared accessbroadband access system serving a plurality of geographically co-locatedclients, e.g., residences. Individual clients in a wireless community ofclients have a wired network access line, which could be either anarrowband access line or a broadband access line. The access systemexploits these network access line resources, as well as a wirelesscommunication medium that interconnects the clients. The wirelesscommunication medium, for example a wireless area network, facilitatesthe pooling together of the wired access lines, and clients connected tothe wireless area network then share the pooled access lines. Clientsare thereby provided with an access medium that has a larger capacity totransport bursts of data than that provided by the wired access line ofa single client. Clients in the wireless area network are provided withshared access broadband access, without requiring each residential unitto have a dedicated broadband access line. The performance of existingwired broadband access lines can also be significantly improved withthis invention.

In preferred embodiments of the invention, clients are residentialunits, such as houses or apartments. A high percentage of the units havea form of wired Internet access. In some preferred embodiments, eachclient has a wired Internet connection. However, methods and systems ofthe invention are fault tolerant to the loss of one or more client wiredaccess connections. In some embodiments, a server may be part of theclient wireless community, for example to act as a proxy server and/orprovide a baseline level of wired network access by one or morebroadband connections. This baseline connection to the wired network isthen enhanced by client wired access resources when such resources areavailable through the wireless community.

The wireless community may be established and exist throughimplementation, for example, of prevailing standards for wireless areanetworks. In a preferred embodiment, the wireless community isestablished in accordance with one of the standards of 802.11a, 802.11bor 802.11g. More generally, the wireless community may be implementedwith any protocol that permits clients in the community to route packetsfrom local proxies to a proxy server in or apart from the wirelesscommunity. Clients are generally geographically located within thelimits of the wireless community. Thus, the wireless medium and protocolused to establish the wireless community defines the geographicboundaries of a client wireless community. Typically, and in preferredembodiments, this will be a close geographical arrangement, such aswithin a business park, in an office building or group of buildings witha number of business units (e.g., different firms or companies), or inneighborhood of residential units.

Embodiments of the invention include devices or software resident withinor connected to a client for providing Internet access within a client.The device or software implements a protocol to communicate with otherlike devices or software resident within or connected to other clientsthat are part of a common wireless community, where some of the otherclients have an Internet connection. The device or software is able toidentify packets from different sessions, and can assign sessions toclients with an Internet connection. The software directs packetstransmitted from clients over one or more Internet connections in thecommon wireless community, and forwards packets received from anInternet connection and belonging to a session to the client with anInternet connection, using said protocol. In a preferred embodiment, thedevice or software is implemented in a DSL modem, and in other exemplaryembodiments it is implemented in a wireless access point, a router, aswitch, a cable modem, or a dial-up modem. Encryption may be provided bythe device or software to protect client sessions from other clients inthe wireless community.

A preferred embodiment method for Internet access includes establishinga wireless community of clients, for example with a wireless networkprotocol such as 802.11. At least some of the clients in the network ofclients have an Internet connection. Packets generated by a client forInternet communications are identified as needing to be redirectedthrough other clients in the wireless community network in order toreach a destination server on the Internet. For each packet identifiedas needing to be redirected, one of a plurality of client Internetconnections is. selected among the client Internet connections in thewireless community. Each packet is then forwarded through the Internetconnection selected for the packet. Packets received from a serveravailable on the Internet are directed to an appropriate client in thewireless community according to session information established onbehalf of the client.

Preferred embodiments where clients are residential units will now bediscussed, while artisans will appreciate broader aspects of theinvention from their description. In addition, a residential unit may,for example, include multiple clients (e.g., multiple computers). Forsimplicity of explanation, in the example, each residential unit will beassumed to have a single client. A residential unit client may exploitthe bursty nature of data traffic generated by residential Internetusers. In particular, in a local neighborhood of residential units, itis unlikely that all residential unit clients are using their Internetaccess lines at the same time. The idle capacity of the access line of aresidential unit client can be used to support the data transferrequests of an active user in another residential unit. A wirelesscommunity, for example a wireless local area network, that interconnectsthe clients (individual computers, for example) in a local neighborhoodfacilitates the sharing of the Internet access lines. All of theInternet access lines in a neighborhood network are thus pooled togetherand shared, creating the capability for a residential unit client toavail itself of the transmission capacity in all Internet access linesof the wireless community if no other residential unit has a need totransfer data at a given time. This will improve the speed of Internetaccess, for example web browsing, without requiring an upgrade ofexisting wired access lines to each residential unit, and thus providefor shared access broadband access at low cost. It also provides faulttolerance, as the failure of a particular residential unit client'sInternet access line does not cause a road block to Internet access, andin a wireless community with a fair amount of shared Internet accessconnections is unlikely to have a significant impact on bandwidthavailable for Internet access including access pressures caused bybursty traffic conditions. Exemplary embodiments of the invention, asapplied to a single neighborhood of residential units each having asingle client are referred to as an ISP-Unaware embodiment and aMeta-ISP embodiment. An embodiment that is a variation of the Meta-ISPembodiment and may be referred to as an ISP-aware embodiment will alsobe discussed briefly in the context of the Meta-ISP embodiment.

The embodiments to be discussed leverage a TCP session protocol for thedirecting of packets to and from clients in a wireless community. Thereare many existing session-oriented protocols in use in the Internet,such as TCP and RTP, and the embodiments discussed below can operatewith any such session-oriented protocol.

Operation of the preferred embodiments will be discussed with respect toan exemplary embodiment residential broadband access system that isshown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1, the access system has a plurality ofInternet access lines 101 to 104 with a wireless community 1000 formedby a wireless communication medium and protocol 200 (a set of radiofrequency channels, for example). The interne access lines in the FIG. 1embodiment are within respective residential units 201-204 of thewireless community 1000, and connect to the Internet 300. Also shown area couple of web servers 401 and 402 that client computers in theresidential units 201-204 may communicate with through the Internetaccess lines 101 to 104 and the Internet 300. For discussingimplementation of a meta-ISP embodiment, a proxy server 500 is shown asconnected to the Internet for access by proxy servers within theresidential units 201-204.

An exemplary residential unit 201-204 is illustrated in FIG. 2. Aresidential unit may contain one or more personal computers 51, 52,interconnected by a Local Area Network (LAN) 40. A modem 10 provides forcommunication on a residential access line 100. For example, theresidential access line could be a regular telephone line, or a DSLline, and the modem 10 would then be either a dial-up modem or a DSLmodem. If the residential access line represents a coaxial cable thatalso delivers television signals, the modem 10 would be a cable modem. Awireless communication interface 20 conducts communications with theother residential units in the wireless community over a wirelesschannel or channels 200 that follow a protocol, e.g. IEEE 802.11. Theinterface 20 may be a Wireless LAN access point, for example. Acollection of wireless interfaces implements the wireless community 1000illustrated in FIG. 1. A gateway 30 controls how the wireless network1000 is used to enhance the utility of the residential access lines101-104. The gateway 30 could be a stand-alone hardware device, or couldbe implemented in software and integrated with the wireless interface20. Alternatively, a software implementation of a gateway could resideon one of the computers 51 or 52. Indeed, as will be clear to thoseskilled in the art, the modem 10, wireless interface 20, and the gateway30 can be integrated into one of the computers 51 or 52.

A residential unit 201-204 can represent a house or a unit in anapartment or condominium complex. However, as has been discussed above,the invention also applies to other clients, such as places of businessthat use dial-up lines, DSL, or cable modems for access to the Internet.

The web servers 401, 402 and the host 410 represent devices computersinside residential units 201-204 communicate with. For example, when auser browses the web on a computer, web pages are displayed. The webpages contain objects that reside on web servers 401-402. As anotherexample, a user inside a residential unit may wish to transfer acomputer file to or from a remote host 410. The wireless communitynetwork (WCN) 1000 is thus used to enhance the performance of theresidential access lines 101-104. In additional embodiments, asubstitute medium and protocol is used in place of the wirelesscommunication medium Example substitute mediums include communicationsover power lines or using line-of-sight optical links. “HomePlug” is anevolving industry standard (http://www.homeplug.org/), and it provides asubstitute medium and protocol for forming a client community inadditional preferred embodiments.

ISP-Unaware

In the ISP-Unaware embodiment, traffic is split across the access linesof the wireless community 1000 formed in a residential neighborhood atthe granularity of a TCP session. A wireless communication medium andprotocol (e.g., IEEE802.11a/b/g) interconnects gateway devices 30installed in each residential unit to form the wireless community 1000.The gateway device 30 can be implemented in software inside a user'spersonal computer, by a separate hardware device, or embedded into awireless local area network (WLAN) access point, for example. Eachgateway device 30 can act as proxy, and all of the proxies in thewireless community 1000 coordinate to share the access lines 101-104 ofclients that are part of the wireless community 1000.

A request made from a client computer inside a residential unit 201-204to initiate a TCP session with a device outside the wireless community,e.g. one of the web servers 401, 402, is redirected by the gatewaydevice 30 acting as a local proxy within the same residential unit to aremote proxy (another gateway device) that resides in another one of theresidential units 201-204, through the wireless communication medium 200and protocol. The remote proxy then makes TCP session requests on behalfof the client computer that originally made the TCP session request.After the session is initiated, data packets from the session thatoriginate at the device outside the wireless community are thentransported to the remote proxy. The remote proxy then forwards thesedata packets via the wireless medium and protocol to the local proxy,which in turn forwards the packets to the client computer thatoriginally initiated the session.

Similarly, after the session is initiated, data packets originating atthe client computer that initiated the TCP session are redirected by thelocal proxy to the remote proxy via the wireless communication mediumand protocol. In turn, the remote proxy forwards these session datapackets to the device outside the wireless community, e.g., one of theweb servers 401, 402, that was the original target of the TCP sessionrequest. The gateway devices 30 act as a network of proxies in theneighborhood that performs a load balancing function, attempting tospread the TCP session requests from all residential units so thattraffic is divided evenly across all of the access lines 101-104 in theresidential units 201-204 of the wireless community. Packets originatingfrom a client computer inside a residential unit that are not recognizedas belonging to a session are transported through the Internet accessline that terminates at the residential unit, and thus do not need to betransported via the wireless communication network.

Although the ISP-Unaware embodiment offers a potentially dramaticimprovement in performance relative to when no sharing of access linesis used, there are two limitations. First, the granularity at whichtraffic is split across all of the access lines can be rather largebecause the amount of data transported for each TCP session can be largeand unpredictable, thus limiting the capability to reliably spread loadevenly across residential access lines. Second, traffic travelingbetween the Internet and a single residential unit passes through otherresidential units, raising privacy concerns. To partially address thisconcern, the proxies may utilize encryption in their jointcommunications as a way to provide security for communications ofclients with respect to other clients in the wireless community. Thisonly partially addresses the privacy concern, since the data that flowsacross the Internet access resources is often not encrypted at a remoteserver, and thus is potentially visible in the clear at a plurality ofresidential units.

Data transfers in packet networks are often facilitated bysession-oriented protocols. In particular, to realize communicationbetween two endpoints, a session may first be initiated, whereby bothendpoints communicate initially to synchronize state information forfunctions such as flow control and error control. This initialcommunication often takes the form of what is called a three-wayhandshake. Once both endpoints have synchronized state information, theflow of data can then take place. The transfer of session data packetsrealizes such data flow. Each session data packet is labeled with anidentifier that determines the identity of the session. This identifieris typically determined during the initial state synchronization. Oncethe data transfer is completed, the end points then exchange controlmessages to terminate the session.

A TCP session, for example, is identified by an IP address and a portnumber associated with each endpoint. To initiate a session, TCP uses athree-way handshake, whereby special control packets called SYN packetsare exchanged, which determine initial sequence numbers used for errorrecovery and flow control.

Consider a data transfer between a computer 51 and a web server 401using a session-oriented protocol, which is initiated by the computer51. With the present invention, such a session may be altered, withoutmodification of the protocols at the endpoints. In particular, thegateway device 30 attached to the local computer 51 acts as a proxy tofacilitate the data transfer, as has been discussed generally above.Another proxy, referred to as the remote proxy, also facilitates thedata transfer. The remote proxy resides on the gateway device withinanother residential unit belonging to the same wireless communitynetwork 1000. The invention alters the session in the following way.When the local computer 51 first initiates a communication with the webserver 401, the local proxy residing inside the local gateway device 30intercepts the packets associated with this communication and determinesthat a session initiation is taking place. The local proxy acts inaccordance with how the web server would act, hence the name proxy. Inparticular, instead of the session taking place between the localcomputer 51 and the web server 401, the session takes place between thelocal computer 51 and the local proxy 30. In order to facilitate thedata transfer, the local proxy selects another proxy, called a remoteproxy. The remote proxy resides in the gateway device 30 inside anotherresidential unit belonging to the same wireless community network 1000.The selection of the residential unit that contains the remote proxy,among all of the residential units 201-204 belonging to the wirelesscommunity network 1000, can be made on the basis of the state of thewireless community network 1000, past selection decisions, as well as onthe basis of the pattern of recent activity on the residential accesslines 101-104. For example, the proxies may exchange state informationon the wireless community network and the residential access lines, anduse this state information to form the basis for a selection decision.In an exemplary embodiment, a round robin approach is used forselection, and this and other scheduling algorithms may be used.

After local proxy implemented by a gateway 30 intercepts the packetassociated with the session initiation by the local computer 51, thelocal proxy initiates a session with the remote proxy implemented byanother gateway device in the wireless community network 1000. Thissession takes place via the wireless community medium and protocol 200.In turn, the remote proxy initiates a session with the web server 401,via the residential access line (one of the Internet access lines101-104) attached to the remote proxy. In effect, the remote proxycommunicates directly with the web server 401 instead of the localcomputer 51.

The remote proxy forwards session data packets from the web server 401to the local proxy 30 via the wireless community network 1000, which inturn forwards the session data packets to the local computer 51.Similarly, in the other direction, the local proxy 30 forwards sessiondata packets from the local computer 51 to the remote proxy via thewireless community network 1000, which in turn forwards the session datapackets to the web server 401.

Artisans will note that the local and remote proxy need notindependently generate protocol messages on behalf of the representedentity, and that the session between a local and remote proxy can bevirtual. Rather, the local and remote proxies can simply forward sessionpackets after applying an address translation.

Artisans will also note that the remote proxy function is supported onexisting networking appliances without any modification. In particular,commercially available wireless access points (e.g. IEEE 802.11b/g/a—WiFi) commonly perform a Network Address Translation (NAT)function, in order to map local IP addresses to a single IP address.Thus, from the viewpoint of a local proxy, a standard wireless accesspoint with the NAT function can be used as a remote proxy. In this case,the wireless access point might be within a residential unit that doesnot have a local proxy present, and in this case the sharing of internetaccess resources is unilateral. Artisans will also note that gatewaydevices may include memory for temporarily storing packets, for exampleto implement re-ordering and other functions.

Since some applications and protocols are not session oriented, thelocal proxy 30 may intercept packets from the local computer 51 which itdoes not recognize as belonging to any session. In this case the localproxy 30 simply forwards such packets to attached residential accessline 100 via the modem 10. Such packets are not transported across thewireless community to another proxy for implementing resource sharing.

Meta-ISP (and ISP Aware)

The Meta-ISP embodiment is similar to the ISP-Unaware embodiment, exceptthat each gateway device 30 acts only as a local proxy. Instead ofremote proxies being located at residential units 201-204 throughout thewireless community 1000, a dedicated proxy server 500 acts as proxyserver for all residential units 201-204. This proxy server and can belocated within or outside the neighborhood, and within or outside thelocal-ISPs that terminate the residential access lines. In an exampleembodiment, the proxy server 500 is accessible through the Internet.

A request made from a client computer, e.g., 51, 52 within the wirelesscommunity 1000 to initiate a TCP session with a device, e.g., one of theweb servers 401, 402, outside the wireless community is redirected bythe gateway 30 implementing a local proxy within the same residentialunit to the proxy server 500. The proxy server 500 then makes TCPsession requests on behalf of the client computer that originally madethe TCP session request. After the session is initiated, data packetsfrom the session that originate at the web server 401 or 402 are thentransported to the proxy server 500. The proxy server 500 then forwardsthese data packets to the local proxy implemented by a gateway device,which in turn forwards the packets to the client computer thatoriginally initiated the session. Similarly, after the session isinitiated, data packets originating at the client computer thatinitiated the TCP session are redirected by the local proxy to the proxyserver 500. In turn, the proxy server 500 forwards these session datapackets to the web server that was the original target of the TCPsession request.

The communication between a gateway device 30 implementing a local proxyfunction and the proxy server 500 can take place by using any of aplurality of Internet access lines in residential units that are withinthe wireless community, making use of the wireless communication mediumand protocol that interconnects the residential units. Traffic can bedivided across these residential access lines at the granularity of apacket, and thus the load can be evenly spread across the residentialaccess lines. The decision process for each packet that determines whichresidential access line will be used to transport the packet can bebased on the state of the wireless network, the past history ofdecisions for other packets, as well as the current state of theresidential access lines. The network of local proxies may exchangestate information to facilitate this decision process. For example, thelocal proxies can use such state information to estimate the total loadplaced on each residential access line, and attempt to distribute loadevenly among the residential access lines. The local proxies and theproxy server 500 can also implement packet reordering, to increase thechances that packets will be transported end-to-end in the same orderthey were originally sent. The packet reordering can be implemented withsequence numbers that are inserted into the packets traveling betweenthe proxy server 500 and the local proxies. In addition, the localproxies and proxy server can provide encryption and decryption to eachpacket that travels between them, thereby alleviating the privacyconcerns discussed earlier. In particular, data flowing acrossresidential access lines as well as between residential units isencrypted, making Internet communications less susceptible toeavesdropping by neighbors. Packets originating from a computer inside aresidential unit that are not recognized as belonging to a session aretransported through the residential access line that terminates at theresidential unit, and thus do not need to be transported via thewireless communication network.

The Meta-ISP embodiment does not require cooperation from a local-ISPthat terminates one or more of the residential access lines 101-104. Theproxy server 500 may be separate from any local-ISP. However, if all theresidential access lines 101-104 are terminated by the same local-ISP,and the local-ISP wishes to cooperate with the sharing of residentialaccess lines pursuant to the invention, then the proxy server can beoperated by the local-ISP. This is an ISP-aware variation of theMeta-ISP embodiment.

An example communication will be discussed with respect to the systemshown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Consider a data transfer between a computer 51and a web server 401 using a session-oriented protocol, which isinitiated by the computer 51. Such a session may be altered, withoutmodification of the protocols at the endpoints. In particular, thegateway device 30 attached to the local computer 51 acts as a localproxy to facilitate the data transfer. When the local computer 51 firstinitiates communication with the web server 401, the local proxyintercepts the packets associated with this communication and determinesthat a session initiation is taking place. The local proxy acts inaccordance with how the web server 401 would act. In particular, insteadof the session taking place between the local computer 51 and the webserver 401, the session takes place between the local computer 51 andthe local proxy 30. To facilitate the data transfer, the local proxy 30communicates with the proxy server 500. The proxy server 500 initiates asession with the web server 401. In effect, the proxy server 500communicates directly with the web server 401 instead of the localcomputer 51.

The proxy server 500 forwards session data packets from the web server401 to the local proxy 30, which in turn forwards the session datapackets to the local computer 51. Similarly, in the other direction, thelocal proxy 30 forwards session data packets from the local computer 51to the proxy server 500, which in turn forwards the session data packetsto the web server 401.

To facilitate communication between the local proxy 30 and the proxyserver 500, any of the residential access lines 101-104 may be used,making use of the wireless community network 1000. The selection ofwhich residential access line to use for a particular packet can be madeon the basis of the state of the wireless community network 1000 or thepattern of recent traffic on the residential access lines 101-104, forexample. Once the selection is made, the packet can be forwardedaccordingly. For example, for a packet received from the web server 401,the proxy server 500 can prepend a label to the packet that specifiesthe gateway device within the residential unit that terminates theselected residential access line. This label can be inserted into thedestination address field of a packet whose payload is the packet thatis to be transported, for example. The proxy server 500 then forwardsthe packet to the gateway device associated with the selectedresidential access line. Upon receiving the packet, the gateway devicethen strips the label prepended by the proxy server 500 off of thepacket. The packet is then forwarded through the wireless interfaceassociated with the gateway device, and delivered to the local proxy viathe wireless community network 1000.

For a packet from a local proxy to the proxy server 500, this process issimply reversed. In particular, a residential access line 101-104 isselected as before. The local proxy 30 forwards the packet to thewireless interface 20 for delivery through the wireless communitynetwork 1000 to the gateway device associated with the selectedresidential access line, which in turn forwards the packet to the proxyserver 500 via the selected residential access line. The packet isappropriately pre-pended with labels to facilitate forwarding the packetin the manner just described, as will be clear to those skilled in theart. The local proxy and the proxy server 500 can periodicallycommunicate to facilitate the selection of appropriate residentialaccess lines, and therefore spread the traffic load across theresidential access lines, in both directions.

In addition, packets sent from the proxy server 500 to the local proxiesmay be labeled with sequence numbers. The local proxies can use thesequence numbers to determine the order in which they were sent by theproxy server 500, and delay packets appropriately so that they areforwarded to the local computer 51 in the same order that they were sentby the proxy server 500. This packet reordering feature may improve theperformance of data transfers substantially, due to the fact that manysession-oriented protocols assume that the underlying network usuallydelivers packets in the same order in which they are sent.

In the reverse direction, packets sent from the local proxy 30 to theproxy server 500 may be labeled with sequence numbers. The proxy server500 can use the sequence numbers to determine the order in which theywere sent by the local proxy 30, and delay packets appropriately so thatthey are forwarded to the web server 401 in the same order that theywere sent by the local computer 51.

To provide privacy, the proxy server 500 may encrypt packets that aresent to a local proxy via the wireless medium and protocol 200. When thepackets reach the local proxy 30, the local proxy may decrypt thepackets before forwarding them to the local computer 51. In the reversedirection, the local proxy 30 may encrypt the packets that are sent tothe proxy server 500. When the packets reach the proxy server 500, theproxy server may decrypt the packets before forwarding them to the webserver 401. A degree of privacy is thus achieved between the residentialunits, since the packets traveling between the residential units 201-204as well as through the residential access lines are encrypted.

While specific embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it should be understood that other modifications,substitutions and alternatives are apparent to one of ordinary skill inthe art. Such modifications, substitutions and alternatives can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, whichshould be determined from the appended claims.

Various features of the invention are set forth in the appended claim

1. A method for providing shared communication resource access, themethod comprising steps of: establishing a network of clients, whereinthe clients comprise separate residential units or business units, andwherein at least a plurality of the clients in the network of clientshave their own associated communication resource connection; providing acommunication protocol between the network of clients; providing aprotocol for sharing the communication resource connections of the atleast some of the clients to the network of clients; and spreadingcommunications from a client in the network of clients among thecommunication resource connections of the at least a plurality of theclients in the network, wherein the communication resource accesscomprises Internet access and the communication resource connections ofthe network of clients comprise Internet access connections, and whereinsaid steps of providing a protocol for sharing comprises: acceptingclient session requests for a session with a device outside of thenetwork of clients; and providing a proxy between the device outside ofthe network of clients and a client requesting a client session.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the communication protocol between thenetwork comprises a wireless protocol that is implemented via a wirelessmedium.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network of clientscomprises a wireless community.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein saidstep of spreading comprises choosing one of the Internet accessconnections based upon usage patterns.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid step of spreading is conducted on a packet basis.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said step of spreading is conducted on a session basis.7. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing a proxy isimplemented by a device within the network of clients.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said step of providing a proxy is implemented by thedevice outside the network of clients.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid step of providing a proxy is implemented by a device accessedthrough the Internet.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said step ofproviding a proxy is implemented by a device within an Internet serviceprovider that serves the network of clients.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the communication resource connections of the at least aplurality of clients comprise digital subscriber line (DSL) connectionsand/or multiple services operator (MSO) connections.
 12. A method forproviding shared Internet access, the method comprising steps of:pooling the Internet access connections of a community of clients into aresource available for bursts of traffics to a client in the communityof clients by a network medium and protocol shared among the groups ofclients, wherein the clients comprise separate residential units orbusiness units; and dividing bursts of traffic to or from a client ofthe community of clients across the Internet access connections createdby said step of pooling, accepting client session requests for a sessionwith a device outside of the community of clients; providing a proxybetween the device outside of the network of clients and a clientrequesting a client session; wherein said step of dividing compriseschoosing one of the Internet access connections based upon usagepatterns.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of choosing isconducted on a packet basis.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein saidstep of choosing is conducted on a session basis.
 15. The method ofclaim 12, wherein said step of providing a proxy is implemented by adevice within the network of clients.
 16. The method of claim 12,wherein said step of providing a proxy is implemented by the deviceoutside the community of clients.
 17. The method of claim 12, whereinsaid step of providing a proxy is implemented by a device accessedthrough the Internet.
 18. The method of claim 12, further comprising astep of encrypting communications from a client in the network ofclients to protect its communications from other clients in the networkof clients.
 19. The method of claim 12, wherein one or more clients inthe network of clients comprises one or more computers interconnected bya local area network.
 20. The method of claim 12, further comprisingencrypting the traffic to protect the traffic from other clients in thenetwork of clients.